Paper 14; Module 05; E Text (A) Personal Details

Role Name Affiliation

Principal Investigator Prof. Tutun University of Hyderabad Mukherjee

Paper Coordinator Prof. Asha Kuthari Guwahati University Chaudhuri,

Content Writer/Author Dr. Sanghamitra Arya Vidyapeeth College, (CW) Dey. Guwahati

Content Reviewer (CR) Dr. Lalan Kishore Dept. of English, Gauhati Singh University

Language Editor (LE) Dr. Dolikajyoti Assistant Professor, Gauhati Sharma, University

(B) Description of Module

Item Description of module

Subject Name English

Paper name Indian Writing in English

Module title ‘Indian’ Identity in Question and the Evolution of Indian Drama

Module ID MODULE 05

Module Five

‘Indian’ Identity in Question and the Evolution of Indian Drama

Introduction

This module on the evolution of Indian drama traces the course of the emergence of drama by situating it in the larger socio-cultural context. An attempt has been made here to address the larger intellectual framework of self-fashioning and the politics of resistance in terms of negotiating the structures of knowledge, history of imperial domination and the consequent effect on national imaginary. The discussions of major dramas/dramatists aim to help the readers engage with the continuing debate on cultural identity in terms of addressing the material, historical, cultural and semiotic conditions of theatrical performances.

The history of Indian English drama gains momentum in the nineteenth century where the history is marked by the production of Shakespearean theatre as well as vernacular plays. As opined by Shanta Gokhale “modern secular drama came to Bombay and Calcutta with the first decades of the nineteenth century when amateur plays were produced by the British residents of these cities. Later, individuals and troupes on their way to or back from Australia and New Zealand would stop there to perform plays written by the popular English playwrights of the day. Secular playwriting in Bengali and Marathi began after the setting up of universities in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras in the mid-1850s, acquainting students mainly with two streams of drama—the Shakespearean and the Sanskrit. The newfound pride of Indians, both in themselves and in their culture, spurred them to emulate and translate Shakespeare in their own languages. At the same time translations of the classical Sanskrit plays of Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti, and Narayanabhatta were being done in Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Kannada, Telugu, and other languages”( “The Dramatists”, 337). Jogendrachandra Gupta’s Kritivilas, produced in 1852 was the first play in Bengali to emulate the tone and techniques of Shakespearean tragedy and the theme and form of the first original Marathi play, Vinayak Janardan Keertane’s Thorle Madhavarao Peshwe, produced in 1851was borrowed from Shakespeare’s history plays. The importance of Indian languages was visible in all amateur and professional productions as only

the college students wrote in English. As we explore, the Pre-Independence predecessors, Sri Aurobindo, Harindranath Chatopadhyay, T.P. Kailasam wrote chiefly on mythical or religious themes but slowly social concerns and reformist themes started to proliferate especially with playwrights like Bharati Sarabhai, J.M. Lobo-Prabhu, Asif Currimbhoy. Gradually the National School of Drama was established in Delhi and the National Drama Festival was started in Delhi by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1954. Hence, the field of dramatic performance widened with the intrusion of folk elements to counter the burden of imperial domination and drama became a multi-dimensional tool to democratize ideas of cultural identity, gender issues and Indian theater gave away to newer experiments.

Objectives

The module is designed to help you

 read critically the history of Indian English drama  understand the important socio-cultural events/contexts instrumental to the history of emergence of drama  position the major dramatists in the proper historical context  apprehend the major dramatic texts  understand the performative and literary concerns of the dramatists

Evolution of Indian Drama

Beginnings of Indian Drama in English (1857-1920)

Krishna Mohan Banerjea’s The Persecuted, or Dramatic Scenes Illustrative of the Present State of Hindoo Society in Calcutta (1831), a debate on the conflict between orthodox Hindu customs and the new visions generated by the Western education is regarded as the first play in English written by an Indian writer. Michael Madhusudan Dutt(1827-73) is known for the plays Razia, Empress of Inde (1858), and Sermista (1859), which are translations from the Bengali. In Ekei Ki Bole Sabhyata (1860, translated as Is This Called Civilisation? in 1971), a farce, he satirizes the

elite Bengali gentlemen for whom the discussion on female education in Gyanataringini Sabha merely expresses their hypocritical attitude towards the idea of progress. This play, along with Buro Shaliker Ghare Raon (1860) and Dinabandhu Mitra’s Sadhabar Ekadeshi (1866) contribute to the debate on education. In 1869 Madhusudan translated into English Dinabandhu Mitra’ play Niladarpan (1860), a play on the inhuman exploitation of workers in indigo plantations. Another play of his, Nation Builders, was published posthumously in 1922. Ramkinoo Dutt’s Manipura Tragedy (1839) is also part of the Indian English Drama published in Bengal in the nineteenth century. Between 1891 and 1916, Sri Aurobindo wrote five complete and six incomplete verse plays. Of these, the earliest are two fragments written during his student days in London: The Witch of Ilni: A Dream of the Woodlands (1891) and Achab and Esar. His Baroda period (1893- 1906) is marked by the famous plays The Viziers of Bassora – A Dramatic Romance, Perseus the Deliverer, Rodogune and three fragments: The Maid in the Mill: Love shuffles the Cards, The House of Brut and The Birth of Sin (which appears as a poetic dialogue in Collected Poems and Plays, 1942). Prince of Edur (a revised version of The Prince of Mathura) was written in 1907. The Witch of Ilni and Achab and Esar indicate Sri Aurobindo’s fascination for the trappings and themes of Elizabethan drama. The Viziers of Bassora is based on a story from The Arabian Nights and shows how a pair of young lovers is reunited after a series of trials, through the benevolence of Haroun Al Rasheed, Caliph of Baghdad. His plays are entirely Elizabethan in conception and structure as this play is modeled after Shakespearean comedy. Perseus the Deliverer is ‘a romantic story of human temperament and life-impulses on the Elizabethan model’ and he employs the ancient Greek legend of Perseus and Andromeda to represent the evolution of the human mind from a primitive conceptualisation of the vengeful deity towards the idea of a compassionate and sensitive God. Rodogune is Sri Aurobindo’s only tragedy.

The plays of Rabindranath Tagore are: The Post Office, The King of the Dark Chamber, Chitra (1913), The Cycle of Spring (1917), and Sacrifice and Other Plays (1917). All these appear in The Collected Poems and Plays (1936). Red Orleanders is translated by Tagore himself from his Raktakarabi in Bengali. Thematically, his plays can be categorised into two broad groups: thesis plays and psychological dramas. In the first group we may include Sanyasi, The Cycle of Spring, Chitra, Malini, Sacrifice, Natir Puja and Red Orleanders. The second group includes The King and the Queen, Kacha and Devayani, Karna and Kunti and The Mother’s Prayer. In Sansyasi and The Cycle of Spring, the chief idea is the celebration of life. In

Malini, Sacrifice and Natir Puja (‘The Court Dancer’s Worship’) religious fanaticism is exposed and maternal love is presented in Karna and Kunti and The Mother’s Prayer. Tagore employs symbolic and allegorical characters in the thesis plays and archetypal in the psychological dramas. Harindranath Chattopadhyay’s Abu Hassan (1918) is a fantasy in prose and verse. His Poems and Plays (1927) contain seven verse plays on the lives of Indian saints: Pundalik, Saku Bai, Jayadeva, Chokha Mela, Ekanath, Raidas and Tukaram. Five Plays (1929) are written in prose and are replete with the socialist concerns of the author. The Window and The Parrot provide unique glimpses into the lives of the poor and the marginal and The Coffin and The Evening Lamp offer an ironical tale of two romantics. The Sentry’s Lantern is a symbolic articulation of the renewed hope of a new era for the downtrodden mass. The Sleeper Awakened is a satire on the evils of modern civilization written in an allegorical manner and The Saint: A Farce (1946) exposes the reality of spirituality and holiness when an opium-addict is mistaken for a holy sage. Kannappan or the Hunter of Kalahasti (1950) is a ‘lyric play’ on the theme of the right of a lowly hunter who wants the permission to enter a temple. Written in eight acts, Siddhartha: Man of Peace (1956) dramatizatises the life of the Buddha in verse and prose. Sarath Kumar Ghose’s The Prince of Destiny (1910); Kedarnath Das Gupta’s Calif for a Day (1916) and Bharata (with Margaret G. Mitchell) (1918) and Dhan Gopal Mukherji’s Layla-Majnu (1916) are significant plays. The most important Madras dramatists of the period was V.V. Srinivasa Aiyangar (1871-1954) who wrote Blessed in a Wife (1911), The Point of View (1915), Wait for the Stroke (1915) and The Bricks Between (1918).

Indian Drama (1920-1947)

The Pre-Independence predecessors --- Sri Aurobindo, Harindranath Chatopadhyay, T.P. Kailasam continued to write on mythical or religious themes. The tradition continues with Sri Chaitanya (1950) by Dilip Kumar Roy, a verse play in three acts about Chaitanya’s teachings and his conflicts with his family members. Dilip Kumar Roy, in collaboration with Indira Devi, wrote The Beggar Princess (1956), a play on the life of the saint-poet Mirabai. Other playwrights, like V. Srinivasan Aiyangar (1871-1954) is noted for Rama Rajya (1952). Rama Rajya provides a modern interpretation of the Ramayana and to some extent is a critique of the naïve idealism of the post-Independence period in India. India Through The Ages (1947) is a collection of ten plays by Swami Avyaktananda. His All Prophets Day is unique in terms of the

exploration of themes of national integration and secularism. A.S. Panchapakesa Ayyar (1899- 1963) wrote various plays beginning with In the Clutch of the Devil (1926) and The Trial of Science for the Murder of Humanity (1942) is his last noted play. Two collections of his plays are Sita’s Choice and other Plays (1935) and The Slave of Ideas and Other Plays (1941). Ayyar’s reformist themes are expressed in Sita’s Choice. The play deals with progressive themes and here the young widow of an aged man marries a reformist youth thereby critiquing the conventional codes of moral and ethical behaviour. The Slave of Ideas is quite melodramatic and deals with the clash between a young lawyer and his materialistic wife. His spirituality and morality is challenged by his wife’s limited attitude and her consequent infidelity. Ironically, the play ends with murder when the lawyer avenges by murdering his wife. Tyagaraja Paramasiva Kailasam(1885-1946), a bilingual writer wrote his English plays based on stories from the Mahabharata in the style of Shakespeare’s history plays. He uses the grand rhetoric of Victorian English. His Kannada plays deal with contemporary themes, and are written in the everyday spoken language of the educated Kannadigas, which he called ‘Kannadanglo’. Little Lays and Plays (1933) contains one-act plays in prose like The Burden, Fulfilment. Karna or The Brahmin’s Curse (1946). The Brahmin’s Curse is the only play in verse and prose. The plays of Joseph Mathias Lobo-Prabhu (dates not known) is replete with reformist themes like inter-caste marriage, marital incompatibility, and the status and education of women. Joseph Mathias Lobo Prabhu’s plays like Mother of New India: A Play of the Indian village in three Acts (1944) and Death Abdicates (1945) deal with reformist themes and projects his progressive concerns.

Indian Drama (1947 to the present)

English drama immediately after Independence mostly concentrated on religious, spiritual and mythical themes. Examples include P. A. Krishnaswami’s The Flute of Krishna (1950) dramatization of the legend of a girl and a youth whose devotion to Krishna lead to their consequent transformation into the Lord’s flute and cowherd’s staff respectively; M. Krishnamurti’s dance-drama set in feudal times, The Cloth of Gold (1951); Sadashiv D. Rawoot’s Poetic Plays: Immortal Song, Karn (sic) and The Killers (1959); Satya Dev Jaggi’s The Point of Light (1967) a critique of the façade of psychiatrists and holy men in verse and prose. The Tagore-Aurobindo-Kailasam tradition of poetic drama is continued by the playwrights Manjeri Isvaran, G.V.Desani, Lakhan Deb and Pritish Nandy. Based on the Rig

Veda Samhita, Isvaran’s Yama and Yami (1948) dramatizes the incestuous love of Yami for her brother. The form is a dialogue in poetic prose, with a prologue and an epilogue. G.V.Desani’s Hali (1950), a ‘poem play’ is an allegorical representation of man’s quest for fulfillment. The protagonist is named after a Muslim saint and representative of humanity and denotes the journey of everyman. Hali is unique in its exploration of both male and female aspects and perspectives instrumental to the journey. Lakhan Deb is known for his blank verse plays. The historical drama Tiger Claw (1967) narrates the encounter between Shivaji and the Bijapur general Afzal Khan. Vivekanand (sic; 1972) and Murder at the Prayer Meeting (1976) are chronicle plays. Murder at the Prayer Meeting is based on the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. Pritish Nandy’s Rites for a Plebeian Statue (1969), Hushmat Sozerokashme’s Vikramjeet (1970), a verse sermon on national integration; Shree Devi Singh’s The Purple-Braided People (1970), a pageant of decaying Indian feudalism; P.S.Vasudev’s The Sunflower (1972) and S. Raman’s Karna (1979) are some other examples.

Asif Currimbhoy (1928-94) emerges as the most powerful voice during this period with plays like The Doldrummers (1960), The Dumb Dancer (1961) Goa (1961), and The Hungry Ones (1965), The Tourist Mecca (1959), Darjeeling Tea (1971), An Experiment with Truth (1969), The Restaurant (1960), Inquilab (1970), The Refugee (1971), The Captives (1963). Rich in theatrical devices in the form of “monologues, choruses, chants, songs, slide projections, sound effects, mime” (Shanta Gokhale,340) Currimbhoy’s plays are replete with the passionate representation of his dramatic, social, political and moral purpose. He is basically concerned with history, politics, socio-economic issues, psychological portrayals, religion and philosophy, East- West encounter and turned contemporary political and social situations into passionate dramatic statements. Goa (1965) is an allegorical representation of the struggle for the liberation of Goa, The Tourist Mecca deals with East-West encounter, The Dumb Dancer dramatizes the saga of a Kathakali dancer, An Experiment with Truth deals with the freedom struggle and assassination of Gandhi, Inquilab narrates the Naxalite movement and The Refugee is based on the Bangladesh war. A Touch of Brightness (1968) by Partap Sharma (b. 1939) continues the social critique as it gives a picture of the red light district of Bombay with its violence, corruption and ensuing homelessness in a language inflected with Hindustani words and expressions like aiye, bapre baap, and kya baat hai to authenticate the medium. The Professor Has a Warcry (1970) also deals with similar theme. Gurcharan Das (b. 1943) transforms historical material into potential

dramatic representation. Set in Lahore in 1846-7, Larins Sahib (1970) deals with the crisis in Punjab after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh when the East India Company routed the Sikhs. Das retells the story of growing intimacy between the legendary Henry Lawrence, appointed as the Company’s Agent to the minor heir to the throne and Rani Jindan Kaur, Ranjit Singh’s widow and his persistent desire to be the second Ranjit Singh. He begins to like being called the Angrez Maharaja and gradually his delusion of grandeur leads to his downfall. Das’sMira (acted 1970) and 9, Jakhoo Hill (acted 1996, though written in 1973-4) are collected in Three Plays (2001).

Trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Ebrahim Alkazi was a powerful influence on theatre in Bombay in the 1950s. His idea of theatre as a totality with set, costume, music and light design integrated with performance and speech to create a dramatic language was revolutionary to urban Indian audience. In Bombay, Alkazi directed several plays and his range includes Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Samuel Beckett and John Osborne. Alkazi is the mentor of Nissim Ezekiel. His Three Plays (1969) includes Nalini, Marriage-Poem, and Sleepwalkers. In Nalini, described as a comedy, we witness the comic contrast between the real and phantom Nalini. The play explores the feeling of rootlessness of the class of westernized Indians. Marriage-Poem explores the conjugal life of an upper-middle-class couple where the wife longs for the love and care of an indifferent husband. Sleepwalkers is a one-act satire on the Indian tendency of glorifying the United States. Ebrahim Alkazi is also an important influence on Gieve Patel (b. 1940). His plays are set in his native place of South Gujarat and are replete with the representations of the marginal sections like Parsis, Iranian Zoroastrian refugees who settled in the west coast of India 1200 years ago and Warlis, tribals working as labourers for the rich Parsi landlords in South Gujarat. The Warlis form a significant background to highlight the Parsi struggle for cultural recognition and Patel deals with their desire to possess and control material wealth as well as intellectual recognition. Princes (acted 1970) dramatizes the declining fortunes of a Parsi land-owning families immediately after Independence, when their sources of income was terribly threatened by the Land Ceiling Act and prohibition. In the play, the sense of intense loss is centered on the desire to possess the sole male child whom two families claim as their own. According to Shanta Gokhale, “Patel believes that language in theatre is a constructed artifice. The English language is uniquely handled in all his plays, and in each play towards a specific end. In Princes, syntax and grammar are modified to create rhythms of speech that

approximate the heavy, involuted, and sometimes poetic thinking of his rural characters” (345). In Savaksa (1982) he dramatizes the story of Savaksa, an aged and wealthy provincial landowner and political leader whose desire to marry an eighteen-year-old girl from a poor Bombay family leads to interesting conclusions. Mister Behram (1988) is concerned with the life and struggle of Behram, a reformist lawyer. In 1972, Pesi Khandalawala produced Ah! Norman, a play about the waning fortunes of a Parsi family and Doongaji House (1991) by Cyrus Mistry (b. 1956) continues the trend. Doongaji House goes beyond operating as a simple backdrop in the play. It appears as a character in the play the way the family members living in the house appear.

 THEATRE OF ROOTS

A movement to create an indigenous Indian theatre that is different from the westernized, colonial theatre as Indian theatre practitioners after Independence started the method and process of returning to their roots, their origins. In their effort of Indianization of theatre, they returned to classical dance, myth, religious ritual, martial arts, popular entertainment and aesthetic theory. This movement is the first conscious effort to create an archive of plays for the urban audience combining modern European theatre and traditional Indian performance while maintaining the distinctive traits of Indian theatre, a theatre which did not blindly emulate British models. K. N. Panikkar, Habib Tanvir, Vijay Tendulkar, Girish Karnad, significant members of the movement took recourse to traditional forms of Kathakali, Yakshagana, Chhau Natyasastra tradition etc. Stylization is the essence of this movement employing music, verbal chant rhythmic syllables. Panikkar uses folk forms to illustrate his theory of Indian theatre as not conflict-oriented but transformation-oriented. They project an unconventional theatre deeply rooted in modern theatre’s quest for integrated identity integral to the process of decolonization and liberation from the trappings of western realistic theatre. Indian theatre is a product of colonial encounter with tradition and the rejection of the proscenium theatre and use of a variety of performance spaces are used to bring a theatrical revolution.

Girish Karnard, Vijay Tendulkar, K. N. Panikkar, Habib Tanvir are significant names in the history of integration of folk and ritualistic elements into theatrical performance. Girish Karnard (b.1938) is a Kannada actor, director and playwright known for Tughlaq (1972), Hayavadana (1975), Naga-Mandala: Play with a Cobra (1990), Tale-Danda (1993) and The Fire and the Rain (1998). Karnad has brought out the potential of revitalizing Indian English drama in terms of using experimental models. Hayavadana (straight from the horse’s mouth, literally) projects the future of Indian English drama in the desire to return to its roots in the rich

tradition of ancient Indian drama. Sanskrit and folk drama in the Prakirits are the indigenous sources to authenticate the tradition of performance. Hayavadana is a bold experiment in the use of folk motifs, like the ‘Bhagavata’ narrator, masks, miming, the chorus etc. The story is taken from the ancient Kathasaritasagara, though the immediate source is Thomas Mann’s version of it in The Transposed Heads. Karnad takes recourse to Indian history in Tughlaq, a historical play on the life of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq of the fourteenth century India. Karnad here deals with the complex psychology and personality of the Sultan who personifies contradictions. Vijay Tendulkar’s plays Ghasiram Kotwal, Silence! The Court is in Session, Kamala, Kaanyadaan deal with the themes of violence, sex, suffering, identity crisis and his characters are displaced personas confronting the hostile society where exploitation rules supreme. Tendulkar’s plays are symbolic depiction of the new awareness of human alienation which finds its best expression in Badal Sircar, one of the first practitioners of street theatre in India. Representing the new theatrical movement in modern India, Sircar has created people’s theatre, a theatre propagated, supported and created by people as street theatre propagates change not adherence to status quo. His plays are based on socio-political, psychological, existential problems and he propagates the concept of third theatre in Solution X, Evam Inderjit(1962), The Other History(1964),There Is No End(1971). Habib Tanvir’s Mitti ki Gadi(1954) is a popular version of the Sanskrit classic Mrichchhakatikam (the toy cart) and Agra Bazar(1954) depicts the life of the 19th century Urdu poet Nazir of Agra. Tanvir has brought music and poetry back to Indian theatre in terms of the synthesis between folk and modern theatrical traditions. Ratan Thiyam contributes to the indigenous tradition by writing plays based on Manipuri myths and legends and employs a variety of performance forms like oral forms, storytelling, the martial art thang-ta, ceremonial and ritualistic performances, regional theatrical tradition in Chakravyutha, Bhasa’s Urubhangam.

Utpal Dutt is one of the founding members of IPTA (INDIAN PEOPL’S THEATRE ASSOCIATION), an important landmark in political theatre in India. A director, playwright, actor committed to political causes and Marxist views, Dutt is active in Bengali theatre and focuses on the sufferings of common man. Sambhu Mitra, founder of theatre group Bahurupee aims to represent mundane nonrepresented realities. Safdar Hashmi chiely associated with street theatre is chiefly known for plays like Enemies, Mote ram Ka Satyagraha dealing with ethnic resistance and authoritarianism. The forte of Mohan Rakesh is the exploration of human emotions caught in

the web of striking realities of life. Adhe Adhure (Halfway House) deals with the disintegration of a middle class family. In Ashadh ka Ek Din (1958) is a lyrical play based on the life of Kalidasa and Laharon ke Rajhans, Mohan Rakesh deals with the crisis of common man, threat to human relationships, drama as a complex art of effect of lights, actors, music and effective stage direction.

 INDIAN PEOPLE’S THEATRE ASSOCIATION (IPTA)

IPTA, an association of the Leftist theatre artists under the Left parties was established to translate the aim of bringing cultural awakening and consciousness among the Indian masses. Commonly seen as the cultural wing of the Communist Party of India, the realization of theatre as an instrument of political ideology was established in 1942 to propagate messages directed to the masses. The agenda was to abolish religious bigotry, social abuse, political and economic exploitation. It started as a low-key affiliate of the left-wing Anti-Fascist Writers and Artists Association of Calcutta. Groups of artists, singers, performers, toured the country to help the victims of Bengal famine of 1943 and the productions were influenced by the corruption. Bijan Bhattacharya’s Nabanna (Bountiful Harvest) in 1944 is the first major success of the projection of theatre as an instrument of protest and resistance. The social issues undertaken by them capitalize on mass action as the focus on the life of the labourers, social discrimination, social injustice etc. gain momentum. IPTA branches throughout India. For example in Orissa Kalicharan Pattnayak’s Bhata(Rice) deals with the problem of untouchability and hunger among Oriyan peasants; in Kerala, K. Damodaran focuses on the relation between landlord and tenant in Pattabakki(The Landlord’s Dues; or, Balance of Rent).

Mahesh Dattani (b. 1958) with “split sets, hidden rooms, and passages revealed behind lit-up scrims and elevated structures” (Shanta Gokhale, 349) creates transformative spaces which enhance stage movement and performative pace. Dattani is an interesting voice in contemporary Indian theatre as his preoccupation with contemporary social and political realities surfaces in themes like Indian joint family and its impact on the individual; identity crisis, gender and sexuality, the plight of woman in Indian society; and homosexuality, a taboo for most Indians. His Final Solutions and Other Plays (1994) contains four full-length plays: Where There’s a Will (first performed in Bangalore in 1988); Dance like a Man (first performed in Bangalore in 1989); Bravely Fought the Queen (staged in 1991); and Final Solutions (staged in 1993). Apart from Tara (first performed in 1990) and On a Muggy Night in Mumbai (staged in 1988), the radio plays are: Do the Needful (broadcast in August, 1997 on B.B.C. Radio 4) and Seven Steps Around

the Fire (broadcast as Seven Circles Around the Fire on BBC Radio in January, 1999). Some other contemporary dramatists include Zubin Driver from Bombay and Vijay Padake from Bangalore. R. Raj Rao’s The Wisest Fool on Earth and Other Plays (1996) is a collection of three one-acters and a monologue and the title plays centers around the theme of homosexuality. Fresh Rules (1995) by S. Vasuki offers, in the author’s own words, “microwave mythology”. G. Prasant’s The Myth Resurrected (1991) is a bold attempt to present the Oedipus myth from an Indian perspective. Shashi Tharoor’s Twenty-two Months in the Life of a Dog: A Farce in Two Acts (included in his The Five Dollar Smile, 1990) is based on the Emergency of 1975. The plot is based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s novella, “Dog’s Heart”. The protagonist is “Kutta”, a dog and the problematic dimension of the Emergency is seen through his eyes. Khushwant Singh’s Tiger, Tyger Burning Bright included in his Not a Nice Man to Know: The Best of Khushwant Singh (1993) presents a mixed group of tourists trapped in the guest house of a national game preserve for two days terrified by the reports of a man-eater hunting near the preserve.

Summing Up

This module on the evolution of Indian drama traces the course of the emergence of drama by situating it in the larger socio-cultural context. An attempt has been made here to address the larger intellectual framework of self-fashioning and the politics of resistance in terms of negotiating the structures of knowledge, history of imperial domination and the consequent effect on national imaginary to help the readers confront the already known issues of cultural identity. The discussions of major dramas/dramatists aim to help the readers engage with the continuing debate.

Story-Board

‘Indian’ Identity in Question and the Evolution of Indian Drama

Introduction

 This module on the evolution of Indian drama traces the course of the emergence of drama by situating it in the larger socio-cultural context.  An attempt has been made here to address the larger intellectual framework of self- fashioning and the politics of resistance in terms of negotiating the structures of knowledge, history of imperial domination and the consequent effect on national imaginary.  The discussions of major dramas/dramatists aim to help the readers engage with the continuing debate on cultural identity in terms of addressing the material, historical, cultural and semiotic conditions of theatrical performances.

Objectives

The module is designed to help you

 read critically the history of Indian English drama  understand the important socio-cultural events/contexts instrumental to the history of emergence of drama,  position the major dramatists in the proper historical context  apprehend the major dramatic texts  understand the performative and literary concerns of the dramatists.

Evolution of Indian Drama

 This section deals with the evolution of Indian drama  The evolution is traced from the mythical or religious themes of the Pre-Independence predecessors, Sri Aurobindo, Harindranath Chatopadhyay, T.P. Kailasam to the social concerns and reformist themes highlighted by playwrights like Bharati Sarabhai, J.M. Lobo-Prabhu, Asif Currimbhoy.  It also shows how the field of dramatic performance was expanding with the intrusion of folk elements to counter the burden of imperial domination and drama became a multi-

dimensional tool to democratize ideas of cultural identity, gender issues and Indian theater gave away to newer experiments.

Beginnings of Indian Drama in English (1857-1920)

 This section deals with the beginnings of the genre  It highlights representative texts like Krishna Mohan Banerjea’s The Persecuted, or Dramatic Scenes Illustrative of the Present State of Hindoo Society in Calcutta (1831)  The major playwrights like Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Dinabandhu Mitra, Ramkinoo Dutt, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore, Harindranath Chattopadhya, Sarath Kumar Ghose, Kedarnath Das Gupta, V.V. Srinivasa Aiyangar are discussed.

Indian Drama (1920-1947)

 During this period, the Pre-Independence predecessors --- Sri Aurobindo, Harindranath Chatopadhyay, T.P. Kailasam continued to write on mythical or religious themes  This tradition continues with Dilip Kumar Roy, Indira Devi.  Moreover playwrights like V. Srinivasan Aiyangar, A.S. Panchapakesa Ayyar, Tyagaraja Paramasiva Kailasam, Joseph Mathias Lobo-Prabhu (dates not known) explore reformist themes and projects progressive concerns.

Indian Drama (1947 to the present)

 This section deals with the proliferation of experimental tendencies in the works of the playwrights Manjeri Isvaran, G.V.Desani, Lakhan Deb, Pritish Nandy, Asif Currimbhoy, Partap Sharma, Gurcharan Das, Ebrahim Alkazi, Nissim Ezekiel, Gieve Patel, Girish Karnard, Vijay Tendulkar, K. N. Panikkar, Habib Tanvir, Mahesh Dattani, Utpal Dutt,.  The focus is on the history of integration of folk and ritualistic elements into theatrical performance

 The importance of various movements and institutions like IPTA, theatre of roots are also highlighted.